Method and apparatus of fabricating a semiconductor device by back grinding and dicing

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus of fabricating a semiconductor device by back grinding and dicing is disclosed. The method may include at least adhering a protection tape for back grinding on a front surface of a semiconductor wafer, back grinding a rear surface of the semiconductor wafer while the protection tape faces downward, loading the semiconductor wafer to dicing equipment when the front surface having the protection tape faces downward, detecting a dicing position formed on the front surface of the semiconductor wafer, and dicing the semiconductor wafer with the protection tape adhering thereon into individual semiconductor chips in accordance with the detected dicing position. The dicing equipment may have a transparent aligning part for aligning the semiconductor wafer and a chuck part for supporting the semiconductor wafer.

PRIORITY STATEMENT

This is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/984,843filed Nov. 10, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,323,397 now allowed, whichclaims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Korean Patent Application No.2004-14248, filed on Mar. 3, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual PropertyOffice, the entire contents of each of which is hereby incorporated byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus of fabricating asemiconductor device, and more particularly to a method and apparatus offabricating a semiconductor device by back grinding and dicing.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, a plurality of semiconductor chips may be formed on asemiconductor wafer, which may be separated into individualsemiconductor chips by a back grinding process and a dicing process.Back grinding may be a process of grinding a rear surface of thesemiconductor wafer, and dicing may be a process of cutting thesemiconductor wafer into individual semiconductor chips using, forexample, a blade.

FIGS. 1 through 6 are sectional views showing a conventional method offabricating a semiconductor device including back grinding and dicing.

Referring to FIG. 1, a semiconductor wafer 1 formed with a circuitpattern 3 is shown. The semiconductor wafer 1 may be composed of, forexample, silicon. A front surface of the semiconductor wafer 1 formedwith the circuit pattern 3 may have a plurality of semiconductor chips.A protection tape 5 for back grinding may adhere on the front surface ofthe semiconductor wafer 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, the semiconductor wafer 1 with the protection tape5 thereon may be upside down, thereby placing a rear surface 1 a of thesemiconductor wafer 1 to face upward. The rear surface 1 a of thesemiconductor wafer 1 may be then grinded using for example, a grindingtool 6 which results in a relatively thin semiconductor wafer 1.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the rear surface l a of the thinnedsemiconductor wafer may have a tape 7 for dicing adhering thereon. Inother words, the rear surface 1 a of the semiconductor wafer 1 with thecircuit pattern 3 and the protection tape 5 on the front surface thereofmay be adhered to the tape 7 for dicing.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 4, the protection tape 5 for backgrinding adhering on the front surface of the thinned semiconductorwafer 1 may be removed.

Referring to FIG. 5, by removing the protection tape 5 for backgrinding, the surface of the semiconductor wafer 1 may be exposed. Usinga light source 8 and a camera 9, a position of dicing on the surface ofthe semiconductor wafer 1 may be detected.

Referring to FIG. 6, a blade 11 of dicing equipment may be used fordicing (cutting) the semiconductor wafer, and thus obtaining individualsemiconductor chips 13.

However, the performed dicing when fabricating the conventionalsemiconductor device typically generates powders due to the cuttingprocedure of the semiconductor wafer 1. The silicon powders may bewashed off by applying deionized water for cleaning and cooling thedicing equipment. However, applying deionized water may only partiallyremove the silicon powders. For example, in a conventional semiconductordevice for image processing, such as a charge coupled device (CCD), theremain silicon power left over on the semiconductor chip 13 mayadversely affect the processing of the semiconductor chip 13.

Furthermore, the conventional method of fabricating the semiconductordevice may require tape replacement and removal of the protection tapefor back grinding, which increases fabricating cost. Further, whenreplacing the tape, a relatively thin semiconductor wafer 1 may be morelikely to split or crack.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In an exemplary embodiment, a method of fabricating a semiconductordevice may include at least adhering a protection tape for back grindingon a front surface of a semiconductor wafer, back grinding a rearsurface of the semiconductor wafer while the protection tape facesdownward, loading the semiconductor wafer to dicing equipment when thefront surface having the protection tape faces downward, detecting adicing position formed on the front surface of the semiconductor wafer,and dicing the semiconductor wafer with the protection tape adheringthereon into individual semiconductor chips in accordance with thedetected dicing position. The dicing equipment may have a transparentaligning part for aligning the semiconductor wafer and a chuck part forsupporting the semiconductor wafer.

In another exemplary embodiment, the protection tape used for both theback grinding and the dicing may be transparent.

In another exemplary embodiment, detecting the dicing position may beperformed by the transparent aligning part and the transparentprotection tape.

In another exemplary embodiment, detecting the dicing position may beperformed using an alignment camera installed on a lower side of thesemiconductor wafer.

In another exemplary embodiment, dicing the semiconductor wafer may beperformed at the rear surface of the semiconductor wafer.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, after the dicing the semiconductorwafer, the dicing procedure may include reducing an adhesive forcebetween the semiconductor wafer and the protection tape by emittingradiation towards the front surface of the semiconductor wafer with theprotection tape adhering thereon.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, after the dicing the semiconductorwafer, the dicing procedure may include die attaching by separatingindividual semiconductor chips while the front surface of thesemiconductor wafer with the protection tape adhering thereon facesdownward.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, after dicing the semiconductorwafer, the dicing procedure may include reducing an adhesive force ofthe protection tape by emitting radiation towards the front surface ofthe semiconductor wafer with the protection tape adhering thereon, anddie attaching by separating individual semiconductor chips while thefront surface of the semiconductor wafer with the protection tapeadhering thereon faces downward.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, after the dicing the semiconductorwafer, the dicing procedure may include loading the semiconductor waferto a wafer frame having an adhesive tape so that a rear surface of thesemiconductor wafer faces downward, and removing the protection tapeadhering on the front surface of the semiconductor wafer.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, after the dicing the semiconductorwafer, the dicing procedure may include reducing an adhesive force ofthe protection tape by emitting radiation towards the front surface ofthe semiconductor wafer with the protection tape adhering thereon,loading the semiconductor wafer to a wafer frame having an adhesive tapeso that a rear surface of the semiconductor wafer faces downward, andremoving the protection tape adhering on the front surface of thesemiconductor wafer. In other exemplary embodiments, the method offabricating a semiconductor device may include at least adhering aprotection tape on an active surface of a semiconductor wafer so as toback grind a non-active surface of the semiconductor wafer, detecting adicing position on the active surface of the semiconductor wafer whilethe protection tape faces downward, and dicing the semiconductor waferwith the protection tape adhering thereon into individual semiconductorchips in accordance with the detected dicing position.

In another exemplary embodiment, the invention may provide asemiconductor device with at least a semiconductor wafer having anactive surface and a non-active surface, and a tape for protecting anddicing adhered on the active surface of the semiconductor wafer so as toback grind a non-active surface of the semiconductor wafer, wherein thetape faces downward during back grinding.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the tape may be transparent.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the active surface may include acircuit pattern.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the active surface of thesemiconductor wafer may include a dicing position.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the dicing position may be detectedby an alignment camera.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the non-active surface of thesemiconductor wafer may be diced by dicing equipment.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the dicing equipment may include atransparent aligning part for aligning the semiconductor wafer and achuck part for supporting the semiconductor wafer.

In another exemplary embodiment, the invention may include an apparatusfor fabricating a semiconductor device having at least a detector fordetecting a dicing position formed on an active surface of asemiconductor wafer while a protection tape faces downward, and dicingequipment for dicing the semiconductor wafer into individualsemiconductor chips in accordance with the detected dicing position, thedicing equipment includes a transparent aligning part for aligning thesemiconductor wafer and a chuck part for supporting the semiconductorwafer.

In the exemplary embodiments, the present invention provides a method offabricating a semiconductor device capable of preventing silicon powdersfrom remaining on a semiconductor chip when dicing. Further, because theprotection tape for back grinding may be also used in dicing, theproduced silicon powders when dicing will not adversely affect thesemiconductor chip.

In other exemplary embodiments, the present invention reduces oreliminates tape replacement for dicing and/or removes the protectiontape during back grinding.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be readilyunderstood with reference to the following detailed description thereofprovided in conjunction with the attached drawings in which:

FIGS. 1 through 6 are sectional views illustrating a conventional methodof fabricating a semiconductor device including back grinding anddicing;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of a semiconductordevice according to the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of a semiconductordevice with grinding equipment according to the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of a semiconductordevice loaded on dicing equipment according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of another exemplary embodiment of asemiconductor device with dicing equipment according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 11 is a sectional view of an exemplary embodiment of asemiconductor device using ultraviolet ray emitting equipment accordingto the present invention; and

FIGS. 12 and 13 are sectional views of an exemplary embodiment of a dieattach process with individually separated semiconductor devicesaccording to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT

Exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully with reference tothe accompanying drawings. The invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as being limited to theembodiments set forth herein; rather these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the concept of the invention to those skilled in the art.

It should be noted that these Figures are intended to illustrate thegeneral characteristics of methods and devices of exemplary embodimentsof this invention, for the purpose of the description of such exemplaryembodiments herein. These drawings are not, however, to scale and maynot precisely reflect the characteristics of any given embodiment, andshould not be interpreted as defining or limiting the range of values orproperties of exemplary embodiments within the scope of this invention.

In particular, the relative thicknesses and positioning of layers orregions may be reduced or exaggerated for clarity. Further, a layer isconsidered as being formed “on” another layer or a substrate when formedeither directly on the referenced layer or the substrate or formed onother layers or patterns overlaying the referenced layer. It willfurther be understood that when a layer is referred to as being “on” or“formed over” another layer or substrate, the layer may be directly onthe other layer or substrate, or intervening layer(s) may also bepresent.

FIGS. 7 through 13 are sectional views illustrating an exemplary methodof fabricating a semiconductor device according to the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 7, a protection tape 103 for back grinding may adhereon a front surface of a semiconductor wafer 101 on which a circuitpattern may be formed. The protection tape 103 may act as a layer forprotecting the surface of the semiconductor wafer 10 during backgrinding. The protection tape 103 may be nearly transparent to show thecircuit pattern or a surface formation of the semiconductor wafer 101. Areference numeral 101 a denotes a rear surface of the semiconductorwafer 101.

Referring to FIG. 8, the semiconductor wafer 101 having the protectiontape 103 for back grinding may be positioned upside down. Accordingly,using grinding equipment 105 when the protection tape 103 is faceddownward, the rear surface 101 a of the semiconductor wafer 101 may begrinded to an appropriate thickness. As an exemplary embodiment, athickness of the semiconductor wafer 101 may be about 700 μm beforegrinding and may be about 15 μm after grinding.

Referring to FIG. 9, the semiconductor wafer 101 may be loaded on dicingequipment 111 that may have a transparent aligning part 107 and a chuckpart 109. The transparent aligning part 107 may be capable of aligningthe semiconductor wafer 101 and the chuck part 109 may be capable ofsupporting the semiconductor wafer 101. When loading the semiconductorwafer 101, the front surface of the semiconductor wafer 101 with theprotection tape 103 thereon may face downward. In other words, thesemiconductor wafer 101 may be loaded on the dicing equipment 111 sothat the protection tape 103 for back grinding need not be removed.

Further, the dicing equipment 111 may detect a dicing position becausethe chuck part 109 may support the semiconductor wafer 101 and thetransparent aligning part 107 may show the front surface of thesemiconductor 101. Thus, the dicing process may be performed so that theprotection tape adhering on the front surface of the semiconductor wafer101 face downward.

The dicing equipment 111 may also include an alignment camera 113. Itshould be appreciated that one of ordinary skilled in the art may useother devices that captures images besides a camera. The alignmentcamera 113 may be installed on a bottom side of the semiconductor wafer101 which may be used for detecting the dicing position formed on thefront surface of the semiconductor wafer 101. The dicing position may bedetected in such a manner that light may be emitted from a light sourceincluded in the alignment camera 113 via the transparent aligning part107 and the transparent protection tape 103. The emitted light may bereflected from the dicing position provided on the front surface of thesemiconductor wafer 101. Thus, the reflected light may be perceived bythe alignment camera 113, thereby detecting the dicing position.

Referring to FIG. 10, the semiconductor wafer 101 may be diced intoindividual semiconductor chips 117 using, for example, a blade 115 ofthe dicing equipment 111 in accordance with the detected dicingpositions when the protection tape 103 for back grinding is adhered.That is, the blade 115 of the dicing equipment 111 may dice from therear surface side of the semiconductor wafer 101 into individualsemiconductor chips 117 while using the protection tape 103 for backgrinding. When dicing, the blade 115 may move in the X-axis and theY-axis directions on the semiconductor wafer 101.

Referring to FIG. 11, the protection tape 103 may be applicable to atape hardened process by applying radiation, for example, ultravioletrays. As an exemplary embodiment, the ultraviolet rays may be generatedby ultraviolet ray emitting equipment 119. However, it should beappreciated that other devices may be used to radiate the protectiontape 103 beside ultraviolet ray emitting equipment. The ultraviolet rays121 may be radiated toward the front surface of the semiconductor wafer101 with the protection tape 103 thereon. When the ultraviolet rays 121are radiated onto the protection tape 103, an adhesive force between thesemiconductor wafer 101 and the protection tape 103 may be reduced. Inan alternative embodiment, the radiation may be omitted.

Referring to FIG. 12, a semiconductor wafer 101 with a protection tape103 facing downward is shown. Further, as shown in FIG. 12, a dieattaching process with individual semiconductor chips 117 are separatedwhen the front surface of the semiconductor wafer 101 with theprotection tape 103 faces downward. In other words, the die attachingprocess for separating the semiconductor chips may be performed whilethe diced semiconductors wafer remains unchanged.

Referring to FIG. 13, the semiconductor wafer 101 with the back-groundrear surface facing downward may be loaded on a wafer frame 123 with anadhesive tape 121. Accordingly, the die attaching process may beperformed after the protection tape 103 adhering on the front surface ofthe semiconductor wafer 101 is removed.

The dicing equipment according to exemplary embodiments of the inventionas described above may include at least a chuck part capable ofsupporting the semiconductor wafer and a transparent aligning partcapable of showing the front surface of the semiconductor wafer so as toalign the semiconductor wafer. By using such dicing equipment, thedicing position may be detected and the dicing may be performed whilethe protection tape adhering on the semiconductor wafer faces downward.

In an exemplary embodiment, the surface protection tape for backgrinding may be also used when dicing. That is, the rear surface of thesemiconductor wafer may be diced while the protection tape for backgrinding adheres thereon. In this configuration, silicon powdersproduced when performing the dicing procedure may have little or noinfluence on the semiconductor chip because the protection tape for backgrinding may be also used in dicing, which may be desirable for asemiconductor device, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD).

Moreover, in the exemplary embodiments, tape replacement of adheringtape for dicing and removal of a protection tape for back grinding needmay not be required which may decrease fabrication cost of thesemiconductor device. Further, splits or cracks when replacing the tapemay be reduced.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and describedwith reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understoodby those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form anddetails may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as defined by the following claims.

1. An apparatus for fabricating a semiconductor device, comprising: adetector for detecting a dicing position formed on an active surface ofa semiconductor wafer while a protection tape faces downward; and dicingequipment for dicing the semiconductor wafer into individualsemiconductor chips in accordance with the detected dicing position, thedicing equipment includes a transparent aligning part for aligning thesemiconductor wafer and a chuck part for supporting the semiconductorwafer.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the dicingposition is detected on the transparent aligning part and the protectiontape.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detector is analignment camera installed at a lower side of the semiconductor wafer.4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the dicing equipmentfurther comprises ultraviolet ray emitting equipment for reducing anadhesive force between the semiconductor wafer and the protection tape.5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the dicing equipmentfurther comprises a die attaching device for separating the individualsemiconductor chips while allowing the active surface of thesemiconductor wafer with the protection tape adhering thereon to facedownward.